Page 11 of The Rancher's Code

I moved away from Levi, heading over to my sister’s side of the bar. All of the women surrounding her were alive with chatter, all seeming buzzed from the free-flowing drinks. Just as I approached them, I noticed Dylan getting up from the table. He sidestepped me as he walked towards the bar.

Wait.

Is he avoiding me?

“Hey there,” one of Amber’s assistants greeted me with a flirty look. “You’re Amber’s older brother, right?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s me,” I answered, my attention still on Dylan.

“You’resofuckinghot.” Her words came out all at once, more slur than sentence. “I’ve seen you around the ranch. You’re like a real life cowboy.”

“Right.”

“I’ve ridden a horse or two before but never a cowboy.”

“Sure.”

“Maybe after this, you and me could?—”

“Excuse me.” It was the last thing I said, before I followed Dylan to the bar. He was sitting down now, his phone open as he scrolled down a page.

I took a seat right next to him, my eyes looking over at his screen. “You’re looking up… drinks?”

“Not for here. For the wedding,” he clarified. He then held up a glass of what looked like a Jack and Coke. “See? I’m multitasking. Drinking and working, like you’re supposed to do.”

I let out a small laugh. Dylan stopped scrolling and stared over at me.

“What’s so funny, cowboy?”

“My brother just got on my case for doing the same thing. Being here but not being in the moment.”

“I don’t get paid to be in the moment.”

“How about when you’re off the clock? Are you in the moment then?”

Dylan paused for a moment before he replied, “I… don’t know how to answer that question. I’m usually pretty busy with wedding planning. Not a lot of time to stop and smell the roses when you’re the one ordering hundreds of them.”

“Is my sister making you order hundreds of roses?”

“Thousands, maybe.”

“Is that… a normal amount of flowers for a wedding?”

Dylan shot me a look before breaking into a laugh. I couldn’t help but laugh along with him, already knowing that there wasn’t anything normal about what my sister wanted for the wedding.

“She has a really good heart, even if she’s a lot,” I said, with a soft smile. “She might be ridiculous, but she doesn’t mean anything by it.”

“I know.” Dylan smiled back at me. “I’m starting to wonder if it runs in the family?—”

“Are you new to town, pretty boy?” Suddenly a stranger appeared next to Dylan, his eyes looking him up and down. “Never seen you around here before.”

The stranger took a step closer to Dylan, his fists balled up at his side. His chest was puffed out, too, like he was looking for a fight. Dylan quickly picked up on the stranger’s body language, and moved a few steps away from him, inching closer to me.

“I was just grabbing a drink.” Dylan held up his glass. “I don’t want any trouble tonight?—”

“No offense but we don’t have a lot of men like you around here,” the stranger cut him off. “Out here, men are still men. You understand that, don’t you? What is it to be a man?”

“And what makes you think I’m not a man?” Dylan pressed, his tone filled with annoyance.

---